DMW3: BURST
by teamBLAZE
Summary: MAGAMI's Digimon Online. After five years of updates and debugging under new management, many tamers have logged in and enjoyed its new features. After so long, everyone has forgotten who once risked their lives to achieve virtual and real-world peace. Well...not everyone.
1. 1 - Welcome to Digimon Online!

**New fic, new universe to check into.**

 **Hello, guys! Seems pretty nice to get out of my comfort zone once in while...but, hey! Games are ALWAYS in my comfort zone. (so, wait, wrong archive, then?)**

 **What I'm trying to say is this one's based on Digimon World 03—a game Bandai will forever own and I'll never get to fund for in the future [sobs]. I've been playing it to try fending off nostalgia, yet I got this idea instead.**

 **Enough rambling, then. Enjoy!**

-1-

 _Welcome to Digimon Online. Please type in your username.__

"OK. Here goes."

 _Enter:_ _B __U __R __S __T_ ___

 _._

 _.._

 _..._

 _Username valid. Accessing Asuka Server...__

* * *

"Oh, welcome back! They're excited to see you."

Airi grinned as she walked towards the smiling Digimon Navi at the Asuka Center Main Hall. "Sorry for being out for a while. Tests were keeping me busy last week, but I'm all geared up now!"

"Wait just a moment, and I'll redownload your pack to your satellite," the Navi typed in a few codes as she spoke.

Airi heard the familiar chime from her satellite and watched as her Digimon slowly pixelated to life.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAIRIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

The first to appear, a Patamon, desperately flapped towards her and tackled her down. "Airi, you left for so long, I thought you'll never come back!"

The tamer laughed and patted the Patamon's head. "Tenshi, leaving Digimon Online for life is absurd! We're not done with work yet, you know."

"Yeah! I'm itchin' to fight!" a Guilmon appeared next and pumped the air to enunciate his point. "Who's the next tamer? Who's the next one, huh?"

"Er, Shugo...maybe not yet—"

The Navi looked up from her desk. "Are you still searching, then?"

Airi nodded. "Yep. Maybe I'll take another route from last."

"Shall we leave, then?" a Kumamon, the last of the pack, asked her calmly.

"Yeah, let's, Kuma."

Before turning away to the exit, Airi heard the Navi say, "Goodluck, Burst."

* * *

 _Beep-beep. Beep-beep._

Airi's satellite chime made them stop from their tracks when they made it past the gate. "Oh, it's Sir—"

" _BURST, YOU WORM! WHY DIDN'T YOU CONTACT ME THAT YOU'RE LOGGED IN ALREADY?!"_

With a nervous chuckle, she opened her communications, one of the new features of the game, to deal with her fuming caller. "Come on, Sir. No time for insults. MAGAMI's rulebook didn't discuss cussing."

She heard an exasperated sigh. _"Still, at least you could've given us a call."_

"Relax. At _least_ lemme play D.O. as an ordinary tamer." She cut him off before he could comment. "But, really, I'll keep my head on the tasks. Promise."

" _Fine. Could you make your way to the South Sector, then? Recon Central and East Sector's routes if necessary. Check every nook and cranny—"_

"—and talk to every player you see." Somehow, she already memorized this line of his, and she would never forget to recite it mostly just to annoy him. "Or, more of battling them."

With that, Shugo grinned. "That's my style, Airi!"

" _No fooling around. We have to find him, whatever it takes."_

Well, there weren't time for jokes when she would be reminded of the reason for all of this. "Of course."

A beep signaled the end of the conversation. Airi turned to her Digimon. "So, ready to ride the gondola?"

Tenshi, who was perched on Airi's beret, frowned. "That's a long walk there, Airi."

Kuma adjusted his blue baseball cap. "Since Airi's logged in from home, we have more time in our hands today, Tenshi."

 _Beep-beep. Beep-beep._

Airi grinned. "Well, we could always make the trip more interesting, guys." She reviewed the new caller's name just to make sure.

 _DRI Agent Mike calling..._

 **A different take from the game, huh? Well, not technically the same timeline, as mentioned in the summary, but you get the drift.**

 **Rate and review, please!**


	2. 10 - Find MetalGreymon!

**Hmm...looks like the last chapter's too short. I can imagine, if I'll be one random reader, I would ask, "That's it?"**

 **So here's another chapter to make up to you readers! Sorry for that. Enjoy!**

 **Note: Nope, you're not looking at Chapter 10. "10" is the binary equivalent of "2". I'll be using this numerical system from here onwards.**

-10-

 _ **burst**_ _/bз·'st/ – taken from the term 'pipeline burst cache', which is a memory cache that uses two techniques – 'burst mode' (pre-fetches memory contents before they are requested) and 'pipelining' (similar memory value will be accessed from the cache and random-access memory simultaneously)_

* * *

Airi fixed her scarf over her shoulders and inhaled deeply. "Wind Valley's blowing nice today."

Tenshi giggled. "Watch this, Airi!" She took off when she felt a draft of wind behind. Her ear flaps remained steady, letting her glide smoothly above Kuma and Shugo. "Wheeeeeee!"

The Guilmon groaned. "How come she gets the fun? It's way quiet here."

"Strangely quiet, yes," Kuma muttered.

"It's night outside," Airi assured, remembering the synchronization of Digimon Online and real-world time, despite the perpetual daylight graphics. "I don't think there are Digimon walking 'round this hour." Still, she cautiously looked around and started following Tenshi's flight path.

The Patamon, unaware of the situation, soared higher over the breeze.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeee—huh?"

Suddenly, the wind died down and Tenshi, unprepared, crashed down—right towards the dense entrance of the Kicking Forest.

A few moments later, she cried out. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AIRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

"Tenshi!" Airi ran, answering her Digimon's scream for help. The remaining two dashed behind their tamer towards the woods.

At the entrance, they found Tenshi against a kicking tree, cowering under a herd of glaring Woodmon.

"Crud, her fall must've pissed them," Airi concluded grudgingly.

"Send us in, Airi," Kuma, already a step forward with Shugo, posed a fighting stance. "Tenshi can't handle them by herself."

Airi nodded. "OK. Battle Digivolve!"

At those words, Kuma's and Shugo's bodies disintegrated to green grid pixels and ' _DIGI_ '-marked bands surrounded the area. A flash of light later, a Grizzmon and a Growlmon stood in their places.

Sensing more presences, the Woodmon turned to them and scowled. "Perfect," the leader grumbled. "More pesky kids to interrupt our slumber."

"Might as well punch you back to sleep!" Shugo, now the Growlmon, pounced and hit the leader, toppling every Woodmon behind like domino pieces. He did the same to nearby Woodmon, losing himself in the flurry of the fight.

Kuma, meanwhile, looked around for a weak spot. Since he was too focused, he didn't see a Woodmon aiming for his backside.

Airi, who did notice, shouted, "Kuma, dodge!"

He sharply turned to his left, his paw raised to collide with the Woodmon's face. "...too slow," he muttered, glancing at the knocked-out Digimon. "I already noticed you even before you struck." When he looked up, he found what he was looking for.

"There!" The Grizzmon whirled to Airi, who is now beside the unshaken Patamon. "Is she OK? We'll need that technique of hers!"

She nodded, somehow understanding what Kuma wanted. "OK, Tenshi, I'll tag you in."

Tenshi got up and went through the process of digivolution similar to her other companions. When she turned into an Angemon, she spread her new six wings and flew above the battlefield.

"Tenshi!" Kuma hollered to her. "Use Air Blast on that area!" He pointed to a hollow spot in the hubbub, where Shugo kept on smacking Woodmon down.

"What?! I might hit Shugo!"

But Kuma already made it in and dragged Shugo away, much to the latter's bewilderment. "Just do it!"

Quickly, Tenshi summoned a wind field. Gust of air gathered to her staff, which she released towards the Woodmon. At impact, the Digimon were thrown off balance.

When the field cleared off, all enemies were down.

Shugo shrugged himself off Kuma angrily. "Hey, that was MY fun! Why were you messing with it?"

"If fainting was part of your fun, I will be obliged to hear it from you," Kuma answered calmly, his body slowly turning back to Kumamon.

"Good job, everyone!" Airi cheered to ease their tension. She then turned to Tenshi, who was done degenerating. "I guess it's best if you'll just stick with the group, OK?"

Tenshi sheepishly grinned. "Sorry, Airi."

* * *

"Now, where's...Agent...Mike?"

Airi stopped to catch her breath after climbing the high cliffs of Tyranno Valley. "He said...to meet us...here..."

Tenshi glanced at the Airdramon flying higher at the summit. "But he doesn't have Digimon with him, right? What if he gets ambushed?"

Kuma, ever observant, searched around. "He could stay in a place no wild Digimon will see him."

Their tamer, who now recovered from panting, replied, "Kuma has a point."

"We'll get his attention, then!" Shugo suggested. He then ran towards the edge and yelled, "Hey! Anyone lookin' for Burst can come out now!"

 _Out now! Now, now, now..._ His own echo responded.

"Shugo, you idiot!" Tenshi, who was flapping behind him, slapped his head with one of her ear flaps. "A Tyrannomon or a Triceramon might hear us!"

Shugo chuckled darkly. "Heh, go ahead! I wanna practice my MetalMamemon digivolve on those wimps."

"And I'll end up healing you later? No way!"

Airi groaned. "Since when are you guys going to agree among yourselves?"

Before anyone could retort, Kuma pointed to a certain deserted cliff. "There! I think I can see him waving at us!"

Indeed, a hand was at view, giving off a friendly wave.

"Finally." Airi and her Digimon took another ladder higher and rushed to meet the DRI agent. To her surprise, there were two of them.

Both were dressed like every other member of the Digimon Research Institute: black trenchcoats, goggles, and proton packs which Airi wasn't sure what for. One of them, a tawny-haired avatar, grinned as the group met them halfway. "Thank you for coming, Burst!"

Airi raised a brow. "Weird of you to call me, Agent Mike, saying you weren't at Central Park. Why here?"

Agent Mike gestured to the other one, who had wild jet-black hair and blue eyes. "I would like you to meet Johann, DRI Agent specializing in Agumon. He stays here to study Tyrannomon, hence the rendezvous. I will endorse him to you, as he have what you asked for."

Agent Johann offered a hand to shake. "You must be Burst. The guys at DRI say a lot about your DDNA hunting expertise."

Automatically, her eyes sparked. "You can tell me the job, and I can do it in a snap!"

"Great!" A hologram appeared before them, and an orange Cyborg Digimon with metallic and purple wing-like parts displayed on the screen. "You know this Digimon, right?"

"That's a MetalGreymon."

"Right. He was last seen on the South Sector, and I would like to ask you to get a DDNA sample from him."

Airi already knew the drill: find the Digimon, try to defeat it on a fight, take in the DDNA. She could feel her energy rise up. "I'm on it! I won't log out until I have his DDNA!"

Her Digimon seemed to agree on the same thing. "Let's go!"

The two agents watched them leave with new vigor. Agent Mike chuckled. "See? That is why we love working with her."

 **The idea of getting the rest of the rookie Digimon in Digimon World 03 somehow excites me, so when I played it on my file, I got them all as soon as I defeated the third Leader. :D**

 **Rate and review, please! It would make me so happy!**


End file.
